Page 85 of Ink and Ashes
“It was a practice dummy, Rhodes,” Colson mutters into my hair.
I glance up at him. “What was?”
“The body I thought I saw. It was a practice dummy.” His throat works. “The arsonist put it under a pew so we would get separated. He set us up. He wanted someone to get hurt.”
Colson’s voice cracks on the last word, and I squeeze tighter, willing myself not to cry right now. This isn’t about me.
“We were running drills earlier, before we got the call. Ace was cleaning up from one of them and noticed that a dummy was missing. I mentioned it to Beau and Dom, and neither of them thought much of it, so I didn’t either. But now I do.” He leans down so his lips are next to my ear, keeping his voice low as he continues. “You were right. The arsonist is a firefighter. And it’s someone at our station.”
A shiver runs up my spine at those words. Before I can respond, a doctor walks through the doors, and the entire team is on their feet the moment they see him.
“Hey, guys,” the doctor says. He clearly knows everyone here, which isn’t surprising.
“How is he?” Chief Whitlock asks.
“He’s alive. He has second-degree burns up the right side of his body, and his left arm is broken. All things considered, it could’ve been much, much worse. He’ll need time to heal, but he should have no problem returning to work in a few months, should he choose to.”
Everyone in the room lets out a collective sigh of relief.
Colson’s chest rumbles against my back as he speaks. “Can we see him?”
“Just two of you right now. We’ve got him on painkillers, so he’s in and out.”
Colson looks at Chief Whitlock, then down at me.
“I’ll be back.”
I nod, then he and Chief Whitlock follow the doctor back through the doors.
I turn, making my way over to Cass, Liv, Dom, and Beau.
“Hey,” Cass says first, her eyes rimmed with red. She pulls me in for a hug as I approach. “Thanks for coming.”
“Thanks for calling.” I turn to Dom next. “I’m so sorry about Finn,” I say as he wraps his arms around me too.
“Thanks,” he mutters sadly.
The five of us take a seat, Cass resting her head on my shoulder. I lace my fingers with hers, hoping to provide a semblance of comfort for her.
The whole team is here. I scan the room, watching each of them for any sign of guilt, but all I see is a group of people who just lost one of their closest friends. They all look distraught, and I can’t imagine any of them being responsible for this.
Which means whoever it is must be a damn good actor.
Until now, Ollie was my top suspect, but he’s currently laid up in a hospital bed. I can’t officially clear him unless another fire happens seventeen days from now, but as I glance around the room, I can’t help but wonder if there’s something I’m missing. Because although he fits every other aspect of an excitement arsonist, Ollie isn’t the type to intentionally try to injure his crewmates. Not when his motivation revolves around impressing them.
Whoever did this did so on purpose. They knew the conditions of that church, and they chose it anyway. On top of that, they placed a dummy under a pew to throw us off. They wanted someone trapped inside. They wanted someone hurt.
This is a total shift from everything we know about the arsonist so far. Arsonists don’t typically set out to injure people. Fire is their muse, but they don’t set them in hopes someone will get hurt—they set them for attention. That’s why Ollie initially seemed like a perfect fit to me.
But knowing what I do now about today’s fire, all signs suggest thatthisarsonist isn’t just setting them for attention anymore. Which means they aren’t just an arsonist anymore. They’re a murderer, and their weapon of choice just so happens to be fire.
I swallow roughly, my mind racing.
This changes everything.
My knee bounces as I sit in the waiting room, nerves rushing off me knowing any one of the ten men here right now could be responsible for this.
Twenty minutes pass before Colson and Chief Whitlock return, and everyone is on their feet again the moment they do.
